


Lay Your Head Down and Dream Again

by McNagelpuff



Series: Aspiring Fires in the Light of the Morning [1]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Fake AH Crew AU, Fluff and Angst, GTA AU, I Tried, M/M, Nightmares, Prison AU, Sappiness, Slow Build, and they find solace in each other, but really what did you expect this is a gta au, cliches, look they're both kinda lonely, sorta - Freeform, there's a spot of violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-19
Updated: 2015-07-26
Packaged: 2018-04-10 01:07:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4371335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/McNagelpuff/pseuds/McNagelpuff
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ray has just arrived in prison and finds that he has to share a cell with the most terrifying, infamous man in the prison.<br/>At first he keeps himself as far away from the madman as he can, but slowly he discovers that perhaps behind the horrifying skullmask is a person just as lonely as himself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> If you are looking for cliches and sappiness you have come to the right place my friend.
> 
> I really hope you enjoy this. It's my first RT fanfic and any and all constructive critisism is welcomed with open arms.
> 
> If you have any questions, or ideas, or want to throw random RT headcanons at me, or just want to be friends, then you can find my blog over at [donotfreeedgar](http://donotfreeedgar.tumblr.com/)

  _Was I asleep did you save me from disaster_

_Wake up and tell me I'm just imagining_  
_Thought I would brave it cause I don't wanna live in doubt_  
  
_Dreamt of escape but I'm nowhere near the feeling_  
_Fell from a high but I never hit the ground_  
_Can't hold the weight of your words heavy on my mind_  
  
_So I'm gonna lay my head down on your shoulder and run,_  
_Keep it away from my soul, I'm not holding it all_  
_I'm gonna lay my head down on your shoulder and run,_  
_All that we know will get old, and with you I'll unfold_  
_I'm gonna lay my head down_

\- "Lay My Head Down" by Band of Skulls

 

 

The barred door slammed behind Ray with a loud clang, closing out his freedom and with it the slight haze of unrealness that had settled over him for the last couple of weeks. Starting with the heist that had gone awry, the police surrounding the roof on which he was settled and the bright, blinding lights from the police helicopters, then tiring days filled with holding cells, courts and finally the conviction, all leading to him standing here in a drab prison yard populated by a few stray prisoners sending him wry looks.

“You’re in cell 49, it’s the last one down this hallway, you can put your things away and then if you hurry there’s food in the canteen for another half hour”

Ray looked at the guard standing on his left, holding open a door leading into a long hall. He took a deep breath before hunkering up in his few possessions and making his way past the guard, shuffling down the cold concrete corridor past the many almost identical barred cells until he found the one with a scuffed sign on it proclaiming it to be cell 49. Inside was a small drab room, containing a bunk bed, a table with two chairs, a sink and two small lockers. The bottom bed was already made up, the coarse white prison linen stretched immaculately across the hard mattress.

“Well at least i get the top one” Ray mumbled while unceremoniously dumping all of his stuff on the bed. He sat down on the edge of the wobbly wooden table and pressed his palms against his eyes. God, this was not how he’d been expecting this to go, he should have been far away now, sitting by a pool or something, listening to Michael and Gavin having the obligatory water fight, and Jack complaining that Geoff was burning the steaks. He really hoped they would come up with a break-out plan quickly.

His wistful thoughts were though quickly interrupted by an excited voice. “Hey there! You’re the new guy, right? I’m Kerry!” Ray looked up unto a young man with half-long shaggy brown hair and big brown eyes standing just outside the bars that made up about half of one of the walls. “Yeah, hey, I’m Ray”

The boy, Kerry apparently, walked through the door and reached out his hand. “Nice to meet you, Ray”

Ray regarded the offered hand with suspicion, but shook it still. Kerry smiled at him. “Do you wanna go meet some of the other guys? We can just make lunch”

\-----

The other guys showed out to be a slightly mismatched group of minor criminals, brought together by a mix of coincidence and luck.

Joel and Adam was a pair of unfortunate, as they put it themselves, or incompetent, as Kerry put it, robbers, caught when trying to rob what they thought was a loaded mansion, but what turned out to be a psychiatric hospital, accidentally shooting an aggressive patient and earning themselves a few years behind bars.

Caleb and Chris were both freelancers. Caleb had been screwed over by his partner and practically handed in to the police. The very same guy had then tried to screw over Chris, which ended with him dead in a bodybag. Chris had though been stuck with dragging the body halfway across town and had been unlucky enough to be stopped by the police, which ended him in here as well.

And then of course there was Kerry, who had apparently tried hacking into a major arms manufacturer’s databases, which had not ended all that well.

“I am telling you guys I have hacked into the white house computers and the CIA without any trouble, ok, and if they hadn’t just gotten that new system, they wouldn’t even have noticed that I’d been there!”

“Yeah, sure Kerry, if you say so” Caleb said rolling his eyes.

“Don’t believe him Ray. He’s always getting riled up when he has to tell that story” Joel theater whispered at Ray. The others laughed and Kerry just sighed deeply. Ray figured that the teasing wasn’t something new.

“So, Ray, what’re you in here for then?” Adam inquired.

“Oh, you know, stole some things, shot some stuff, nothing awfully exciting” Ray sidestepped the question, and immediately changed the subject “A much more interesting question is: What the hell are we eating?”

“Oh, nobody knows man. It’s the biggest bloody mystery here. Joel’s taking bets if you wanna try your luck”

“Yeah, I have good odds for rat or human right now” Joel grinned.

The conversation flowed easily from there, not touching down on any dangerous ground again, and Ray quickly felt comfortable with the laid-back inmates, their light conversation and easygoing camaraderie easing the absence of his regular mishmash of a family and making him feel relaxed.

When the canteen slowly began emptying out and the sun shining through the barred windows took on a deep-red tinge, the conversation started dissolving, and Ray was just thinking about making his way to his cell, when he remembered the neatly made bottom bunk in his room.

“So, you guys know who I’m sharing palace with?”

The others stilled and gave each other some rather conspicuous looks, before Kerry turned to him and said “Well, Ray, to be frank I kinda had a sort of ulterior motive when I introduced myself to you.. I mean don’t get me wrong I’m happy that I did, you’re a pretty swell guy, but you see.. erhm..” He trickled off with a few more erhs and ehms.

“What Kerry is trying to say” Joel took over “Is that the guy you’re sharing with is kind of an urban legend in the prison and basically he hasn’t shared a cell with anyone for a very long time”

“Ever since the incident with the last guy they tried to stuff him in with..” Chris cut in.

“It took them months to get the blood out of the floor” Caleb added.

“Yes, thank you guys, i think he gets the point.” Joel said sending them a strained look. “You see Ray, we were kinda curious to find out what sort of guy they decided to stick him in with. We figured you wouldn’t just be any random dude, if they think you can handle the Mad King, you know, then you would probably be worth getting to know”

Ray blinked, surprised “Wow, that’s.. that’s a bit to take in.. erh.. I really don’t know why they think I would be better at handling something like that than anyone else.. I guess.. I don’t know..” he trailed off, it was better for these guys to think that he was just some minor insignificant hoodlum, than someone worth taking notice of.

“Well, to be honest they may just have had no other choice, it’s been damn cramped in here ever since they started renovating ward B, they may just have run out of cells to put people in”

“Thanks Kerry, makes me feel a whole lot better”

The others then started telling him the stories about his new roommate. Apparently, his name was Ryan Haywood and that was about as much as anyone knew about him. Even the guards were scared of him. Shortly after his arrival at the prison there had been an incident involving him and some other prisoners, no-one seemed to know quite what had happened, but it had made the man a living legend. Tons of rumours went around about him, and Ray quickly deemed most of them ridiculous, but the man himself certainly did seem pretty mysterious.   
No-one even knew what he really looked like, since he supposedly wore a mask constantly, the guards just leaving him alone, deeming it more trouble than it was worth getting him to take it off. He also never spoke a word, not that anyone ever really tried having conversation with him, everyone giving him a wide berth whenever possible, but still, Ray had to admit that he was intrigued.

So when he made his way towards cell 49 that evening it was with a strange feeling of excitement mixed with a heavy feeling of dread. Ray wasn’t usually one to be easily scared by anything, but the others’ colourful stories about the guy did leave him a bit wary. So he stepped cautiously into the lit up cell, the fluorescent light casting hard shadows on the concrete walls.

And there he was, the infamous man himself, tilting back on one of the crude wooden chairs, all broad shoulders and muscular arms, and.. reading.. of all things, that was not exactly what Ray had been expecting from a person known by most as the Mad King, maybe ominously staring into nothing while playing the knife game with one hand and strangling flies with the other or.. or something, but not.. reading. Compared to what Ray had been expecting this looked practically normal, well, except for the creepy skull mask of course.

Ray cleared his throat “Hey there.. I’m Ray” He almost reached out a hand, but thought better of it. The other man didn’t even raise his head from the book. “So.. I guess you’re Ryan right.. Erhm, well, nice to meet you anyways” There was still no reaction so Ray gathered up his courage and went to get his stuff packed out.

About 10 minutes later after having made his bed and put his few possessions in the empty locker, he was halfway through brushing his teeth when a small thud from behind him made his heart skip a beat. He turned slowly to see that Ryan had simply leaned forward on his chair making the two front legs of the chair hit the floor. He cursed himself for being so jumpy and decided that he had to stop being such a fucking wimp.

“Whatcha reading?” Still no reaction, so Ray leaned down to see the title of the book. “Oh, To Kill a Mockingbird, I’ve seen that movie, a bit long”   
This finally made Ryan tilt up his head, cold blue eyes, a glacial sea, piercing Ray. A shiver went down his spine and he swallowed hard. Fuck, why couldn’t he just keep his mouth shut, he was so going to die tonight in this stupid tiny cell. However, after a couple of seconds of intense staring Ryan just huffed and looked back down at his book. Ray took a deep breath and slowly crawled into bed, careful not to turn his back on Ryan.

Ray lay awake most of that night, only dozing lightly. Ryan had gone to bed about half an hour after him and it was really unnerving that he couldn’t see him anymore. At least he had the high ground, though he was really wishing that he had a gun or something. He’d never been great with brawling, always feeling more in control when he was perched high up on a roof somewhere where he could have an overview of the situation. Not that he was bad at hand to hand combat, but man, the guy was pretty damn big and, if rumour held true, pretty damn dangerous.

But to the great relief of Ray, who had at one point of extra strong paranoia been absolutely sure that he would never make it out of the cell alive again, the night went without incident. Ray did though almost jump out of his skin when Ryan rose at the asscrack of dawn, collected a few things and disappeared down the hall. “Damn early riser, it’s not even fucking light out yet” he mumbled sleepily and finally relaxed enough to get some shuteye.

When he eventually felt like actually moving somewhere, most of the prison was up and going, and he decided to go in search of Kerry and the others, and hopefully some breakfast, or at least lunch.

He found Joel, Adam and Kerry in the canteen again. They eyed him curiously as he plumped down in one of the hard plastic chairs.

“So, still alive?” Adam said.

“Yeah, just about, damn that guy is intense” Ray dug into his oatmeal.

“You look tired as shit man, what did he do? Pound you into the mattress all night?” Joel said waggling his eyebrows.

Ray scowled at him and sunk the mushy food. “Fuck off dude, you wouldn’t sleep much either if you thought some maniac in a skull mask was going to cave your head in any moment”

“Well at least you lived this night” Kerry said over the giggling Joel.

“Oh happy day”

\-----

Ray also lived the next and the next after that, on his fourth day in the prison he had started to believe that just maybe Ryan wouldn’t spontaneously kill him in his sleep. He had also developed a sort of routine that involved avoiding him as much as possible, not that he was afraid of him or anything, of course not, there was just no reason to tempt fate more than strictly necessary.

In the evening, Ryan would be in the cell reading or something. So Ray would return to the cell as late as possible, just before the doors were locked and there was lights out. Ryan would leave as soon as the doors were unlocked again, and Ray would stay in bed for a while before joining the others in the canteen, and then spend the day trying to avoid whatever he was supposed to be doing.

That night, he was just on the verge of sleep, finally at the point where he actually dared do more than just drowse with Ryan in the room. Going around exhausted and with slow reflexes all the time didn’t really seem like a clever choice in the long run and he wasn't sleeping much to begin with.

There was almost pitch black in the room, only a faint glow coming in from the hallway between the bars and the silence wrapped Ray like a heavy blanket, he could almost pretend that he was back home, early in the morning, where all the others would be asleep. The only time the busy place would really be quiet. As much as Ray loved his adopted family, they only really had two settings; ‘loud’ and ‘louder’. Ray on the other hand had always enjoyed silence, not that he couldn’t be just as loud when the mood struck him, but sometimes he would sit in his window the entire night, smoking through a pack of cigarettes and just enjoying the silence. If he squeezed his eyes tight together, he could almost see the starry sky.

Suddenly a jarring scream woke Ray like a bucket of cold water and he shot up in the bed, heart hammering in his chest. Another scream tore through the still night, and Ray realised that they were coming from the cot beneath him, adrenaline pumped through his veins as he prepared for whatever was coming next.

Nothing.

Ray took a deep breath in and waited. Why wasn’t anyone coming, it must have woken half the prison.

All at once, the entire bed gave a shake and once more, a broken scream rang out, the scream was abruptly cut off as Ray could feel Ryan give a sudden move, the screaming was replaced by a sound of heavy shuddery breathing and an almost whimpering groan slipped through to Ray. Slowly the breathing evened out and after a little while, Ray could feel Ryan shifting again, probably lying back down. Ray sat tensely, not daring to let his guard down, still waiting for something more to happen.  
He sat up the rest of that night staring into the dark of the cell, until the light slowly became more grey than black. He jerked slightly when the click of the automatic cell locks broke through the silence and announced the arrival of morning. Ryan stood up immediately and collected a few things from his locker before leaving towards the baths without as much as a glance towards Ray, still perched stiffly on his bed.

Ray stirred, stretching stiff muscles, and went to get some water. Ryan’s bed was a mess, all the sheets twisted and tangled up, it was the first time Ray had seen it be anything but neatly made up.

Knowing that the others probably wouldn’t be up yet, but not wanting to stay in the cell, he went out in the yard, almost empty this early in the morning, only a few smokers around. He leant against the cold bricks fishing out a packet of cigarettes. Around an hour and many smokes later the sun had gained enough power to burn through the cloud layer and Ray was squinting at the light when the door across the yard opened and Kerry came out, spotting Ray and sending him a wide smile.

“Why up so early?”

“Oh you know, just the casual horrifyingly screaming roommate”

“Oh..”

“Yeah, care to tell me what that’s about and why no-one bothered to inform me that the homicidal maniac with whom I share a room wakes up in the middle night by screaming so loudly that by all rights the entire prison should wake up and come running, but for some reason doesn’t?”

“Erh.. Well you see.. I guess we just figured you knew, most of the inmates are asked how heavily they sleep at night and placed according to it, your entire hallway are made up of the heaviest sleepers in the prison, so that the prison avoids having to place Haywood in an isolation cell, but also avoids having a prisoner revolt because of it.”

“That sounds insane dude, so the entire prison just lives with having a guy scream at night?”

“Pretty much, I guess no-one really questions it anymore. And it’s not like he’s the only one, he’s just the most regular one”

Ray sighed, rescue could not come soon enough.

\-----

Later that day Ray was sitting in the visitation room in front of Michael and Gavin.

“You look really tired man, are you sure you’re alright?” Michael asks.

“Yeah, it’s just my psychokiller cell-mate who screams at night”

“Wow, sucks dude, I guess we could try and see if we could get you moved, but then it would probably take longer to get you outta here” Michael said an apologetic look on his face

Ray sighed. “It doesn’t matter, just get me the fuck out as fast as you can”

“Yeah, about that.. Jack is pulling some strings, but you know we have to lay low for a bit after the heist, the entire police force is just waiting for us to pop out our heads again”

“Just make it before I wake up to the sound of my own guts being ripped from my body”

“Is it really that bad X-Ray?” Gavin piped in.

“Trust me the guy could win an award in creepiness, i still haven’t heard him say a word or seen his face”

“You haven’t seen his face!?”

“He wears a mask”

“He wot!?”

“Oh yeah, it’s a skull mask, real disturbing. One of the guys says that once a guard tried to take it off him and the guard has been in a straightjacket ever since”

Gavin looked at him with wide eyes and Michael lent back in his chair with an impressed whistle.

“We’ll talk to Geoff, see if we can’t speed it up a bit”

\-----

After Michael and Gavin had left, Ray didn’t feel like talking to any of the others so he just slinked back to the cell, a vague hope that Ryan would still be out doing whatever it was he did when he wasn’t in the cell.

But of course he wouldn’t be that lucky and when he stepped into the room Ryan was sitting silently (as if he was ever doing anything else) by the table playing fucking solitaire of all things.

He didn’t acknowledge Ray, so he just went to his bed, planning on spending a couple of hours staring emptily at the cracks in the ceiling, but when he got there a thick book was laying on his pillow.

Confused, Ray took it down and looked at it.

“Fucking Harry Potter, what the fuck? … Is this yours?” Ray looked at Ryan, raising a brow.

Ryan actually lifted his head, but just to stare at Ray for a couple of seconds before going back to his card game.

“Gonna guess that means no then … “

Ray slowly opened the book, inside, the middle of the book had been cut out, leaving a hollow space where ... “Holy fuck yes!” He exclaimed. Inside the book was Ray’s Nintendo 3DS. He pulled out the hot pink plastic rectangle with a gleeful smile on his face and then practically threw himself up on his cot, starting up a game, mentally noting down to buy Michael and Gavin something big when he got his ass out of here.

\-----

Ray is woken twice that week by screaming. The second time it seems to take Ryan longer than usual to get his breathing back to normal and Ray has almost fallen back to sleep again when he hears a quiet sob from under him. Ray lies completely still, not wanting Ryan to know, that he’s awake. Ray almost stops breathing, listening to the stuttering sobs from below him. The screaming he could handle, but this, this felt too intimate, and he more than ever wished that he wasn’t there.

In the end, Ryan falls quiet and Ray nods off again, screaming skullmasks and cold blue eyes haunting his dreams.

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

“I don’t believe you”

“It’s true!”

“Yeah? And where did you get this info then?”

"I have my sources, Joel"

"This source shouldn't happen to be the same guy, who insisted that the police chief was an alien last month?"

"Alright, so he may not have been quite right that time, but it's true, I swear, Ryan once took out an entire police squad with a pair of scissors and an umbrella"

Ray barely looked up from his dinner. He'd been in the prison for a couple of weeks and he was pretty much used to Joel and Adam's bickering by now.

"But why an umbrella? I don't understand, you'd think he could find a better weapon than that!" Chris said narrowing his eyes at Adam.

"Because it's a fucking lie, that's why Chris" Joel said.

"It's not! Ray back me up here, you live with the guy, you know how scary he is" Adam turned to Ray.

Ray glanced up at him “Hey don’t bring me into this”

“No, but seriously Ray what do you think, now you’ve lived with the Mad King for a couple of weeks without getting your neck snapped, any new insights?” They all looked at him expectantly.

Ray thought about it, sure, he could see the menacing, silent, ‘I’m gonna kill you if you breath near me’ - Ryan do this, but.. then he thought about the way he would sometimes hear Ryan crying softly, late at night when he lay awake fighting insomnia and playing on his Nintendo. There would be no screaming or thrashing those times, but just quiet sobs muffled by a pillow. Somehow, Ray couldn’t quite make those two Ryan’s match.

“I don’t know.. It is the Mad King we’re talking about here and really there isn’t a lot you couldn’t make me believe about him” He said.

“Ha, I told you Ray’d be on my side”

“On the other hand” Ray continued “It does seem a bit farfetched doesn’t it, and well..” For a second Ray thought about telling them what he’d hear in the nighttime, but somehow it didn’t sit right with him, as if he’d be betraying Ryan’s trust or something. Which was ridiculous, this was a man who wouldn’t think twice about brutally murdering him, and yet..

“Well what?” Chris asked.

“Nevermind, it’s not important”

Chris didn’t look as though he quite believed him, but in that moment Kerry came dumping into a chair with a “Guys, guys, you won’t believe this, but I just heard that someone from the Fake AH Crew has been seen visiting the prison!”

“What? Really?” They all looked at Kerry with wide eyes, Ray for slightly different reasons than the others.

“Yes, really! And you know what that means right? Means there’s probably one from the crew in here”

“Wow, who do you think it is?” Chris asked them excitedly.

“Well, it’s gotta be one of the newer guys right? Otherwise we would have seen them here before” Joel added.

“Hmm.. What new ones are there.. There’s the burly one from down Caleb and Joel’s hallway, he looks like he could smash a few skulls in” Chris said.

“Yeah. I’m pretty sure you need more than two brain cells to be a part of the fucking Fake AH Crew” Adam said.

“Well then you’re right out, aren’t you Adam” Chris ducked out of the way to avoid getting smacked by Adam.

“What about the guys from the corridor Chris, Ray and I live on?” Kerry cut in.

“What guys?” Adam said still glowering at Chris.

“There’s the one with the mullet and the one who looks like the kinda guy who’d have four children and regularly wear a sweater-vest” Kerry continued.

“Don’t really fit the role, do they. And I know for a fact that sweater-vest-guy is in here for insurance fraud” Joel said.

“Well, who then?” Adam asked.

He was followed by a few moments of silence before Ray pitched in. “What about the dude in cell thirty-something? Beardy.” He looked round with a slight undertone of panic.

“Hmm maybe.. Really it could be anyone.. Could be you Ray, you’re new too” Chris looked at Ray.

Kerry broke into laughter. “Yeah right, Ray’s way too young, besides, no offense dude, but you’re not really Fake AH material”

“Maybe they were just here for information or something” Joel said.

“Yea, well let’s just keep our eyes open, check for people acting weird” Kerry said.

“Sure.. People acting weird.. Not as if people usually do that” Adam rolled his eyes.

“Shut up, you know what I mean”

As the conversation moved on, Ray slowly let go of a breath he didn’t realise he’d been holding.

\-----

Sometimes Ray wonders if Ryan ever gets lonely. He seemingly never speaks to anyone, and no one even sees him without the mask. Ray’s all for privacy and the possibility of just being away from other people, but even he needs someone to talk to, someone to know him.

He’s started spending more time in the cell, and if he doesn’t avoid Ryan quite as much as he used to anymore, it’s just because he hates all the noise there is in the common rooms.

One night Ray wakes up to a shaking bed, Ryan is thrashing violently below him and when he finally wakes up, the sound of screaming goes directly into harsh cries. Usually, Ryan tries to mask it when he thinks Ray is awake, but this time it seems as if he can’t stop himself, letting out several hard sobs before he finally calms down a bit.

Ray isn’t really afraid any longer, partly because of the knife he managed to procure and partly because it just doesn’t seem like Ryan is intend on hurting him.

Ryan tosses and turns for a lot longer than usual, and after about an hour of listening to him Ray gets an idea. Might be a slightly idiotic idea, but Ray never claimed to be a smart man.

He grabs the Nintendo lying under his pillow and sits up. He takes a deep breath before very slowly looking over the edge of the bed and down on Ryan, who is not even lying down, but sitting curled with his forehead on his knees in a position that Ray would’ve thought was uncomfortable for a guy of his size. Ryan lifts his head slowly and gives Ray one of his wintry stares. Ray gulps and just quickly reaches down his Nintendo and puts it on the mattress next to Ryan. “Here, it helps take my mind off things sometimes” he mumbles and then hurriedly crawls back up, heart hammering in his chest.

No sounds comes from downstairs, but after a little while Ray thinks he sees the faint light from the screen of the DS come from down there.

About half an hour later Ray hears a small cough from below and then something that sounds like “Thank you”, though next morning, Ray is not completely sure whether or not it was something he imagined in his sleep induced state.

Ryan is nowhere to be found, not that he usually is this late in the morning, but Ray finds his nintendo safely tucked into his locker and he goes to embark upon the day with a small smile tugging in the corner of his mouth.

\-----

Late afternoon, the same day, Ray’s good mood has completely vanished into thin air. He’s walking from the visitation rooms and back to the cell. Michael and Gavin had been back to give him an update, and it didn’t look good. There’d been problems with some of their contacts and it had put them back considerably, stranding Ray in the prison for even longer.

Reaching the cell, Ray threw himself on his bed with a huff and commenced staring angrily at the ceiling, not in the mood for talking to anyone or even playing his DS.   
He had though not been lying there long before a thump just next to his left ear made him jump, he scrambled to sit up, before realising that someone had dropped a book next to him on the mattress. That someone now standing next to the bunk bed, looking at him through a very disquieting skull mask. He hadn’t even registered, that Ryan was in the room, when he came in, which was quite a feat, since Ray usually took pride in always keeping an eye on his surroundings. He must have been more preoccupied than he’d thought.

Ray looked at the book, it seemed to be some kind of fantasy story, and back up at Ryan, who just nodded his head once and then left the cell completely.

“The fuck, dude” Ray mumbled to himself, before taking a closer look at the book.

Several hours later, Ray was using the light from his DS to read by, it kinda started as some absurd curiosity, but at some point Ray had just dropped it and started seriously reading it. He barely remembered picking up a book since school, but this one actually got him, plus he was still hoping to find some kind of answer to why Ryan had given it to him.

He had come back shortly before lights out, just as unreadable as usually, though Ray imagined that he seemed kind of smug.

\-----

A week later Ray had finished the novel long ago, still no wiser to why Ryan had given it to him, but the atmosphere had gotten a lot better between them, and Ray would now often spend evenings playing games in the cell while Ryan read or played solitaire by the table. One evening, Ray put down his DS with a sigh, his eyes falling on the cards being moved around by adept hands. Ryan seemed to feel his eyes on him and looked up before gathering the cards in a neat pile, their eyes met for a moment before he made a small beckoning motion with his head and started to deal the cards into two smaller piles.

Ray jumped from his bed, slightly confused, taking a seat across from the older man. He looked down at the cards now in front of him and slowly picked them up, still slightly suspicious, but Ryan just dug out a piece of paper and a pen and wrote ‘500’ at the top and then drew two columns underneath.

“Okay then” Ray said giving a small laugh and then picked up a card from the middle pile.

\-----

About an hour of very intense and almost silent card playing later (except for the occasionally mumbled swear from Ray’s side), Ray was one win from reaching 500 and winning the entire game. Completely focused, he suddenly picked up a five of spades, the last card he needed. He slammed down his cards and jumped up so quickly that he knocked over his chair in the process.

“FUCK YES! I FUCKING WIN! JUST CALL ME THE MITOCHONDRIA BECAUSE I AM THE POWERHOUSE OF THIS MOTHERFUCKING CELL!” he yelled, pumping his fists in the air, before suddenly realising what he was doing and looking at Ryan, who seemed to be completely frozen. The smile faded from Ray’s face and he just managed to think ‘oh fuck’, before Ryan started laughing so hard, he almost fell off the chair. His entire body moving with the deep hoarse laughter. Ray, after a second of surprise, broke into a wide smile.

Ryan looked at him, his blue eyes twinkling with laughter and Ray felt colour rise in his cheeks and awkwardly looked away pulling the chair back on its feet. Ryan just kept chuckling while shuffling the cards and started dealing a new round.

\-----

It became a regular thing for them over the next couple of weeks to play cards. Mostly they did it in silence, though at some point Ray started telling Ryan some of the gossip or news he heard from the others, and since Ryan never stopped him, he continued doing it, from time to time even drawing a small laugh from the mysterious man. Ryan would win most games, but Ray slowly became better at reading him despite the mask, little tugs around his eyes and small changes in body language became Ray’s pointers, and at some point he was surprising even himself with how accurate he could read the other.

At night, Ray would still wake sometimes from Ryan screaming, but now he’d just hand down his DS, knowing that it helped him relax and in turn Ryan would sometimes drop an interesting book on his bed. Frankly, life in prison was showing not to be quite as terrible as he originally had feared.

That feeling didn’t last long though. A sunny monday Ray was smoking in a small hid away corner of the yard when two nasty looking guys turned the corner. They both spotted Ray and started walking towards him.

“What’ve we here? D’ya see this Joe? Some little kid’s smoking in our corner”

“That’s not very nice of him, he better hand over those cigarettes, they’re not good for little kids”

Ray looked from the one to the other. This had to be some kind of cosmic joke, right? This wasn’t fucking high school. If he'd been outside, they'd both have had a bullet in their heads by now. “Fuck off, you don’t own jack shit.” He said leaning against the brick wall. This had in hindsight probably been a bad idea, since he very shortly after found himself being slammed against the very same wall by a guy about two heads taller than him.

He gripped after the knife in his pocket for a second before realising that he’d left it under his pillow that morning, fucking great, he was getting slow from just sitting around in here all day, and now he was gonna get beat into a pulp for it.

“Smartass eh? Don’t worry I’ll soon get that beat out of you” the giant of a man said, stinky breath right up in Ray’s face. ”I’m very good at putting smart guys like you in their place, ain’t that right Joe?” ... “Joe?”

“Shit dude, fucking run!” It suddenly sounded from behind the man, but he barely managed to turn his head before it was brutally slammed into the wall right next to Ray, who slipped down the wall as the man’s grip loosened. The brute scrambled, almost falling as he tried to get away from the person standing behind him. Ray’s vision was swimming a bit, but looking up he could swear for a moment that his rescuer had a skull instead of a head.

“Ryan?” He said slightly dazed.

Ryan looked at him, letting go of the man that had been attacking Ray, who took the chance and legged it.

He squatted down in front of Ray and reached out, carefully touching where Ray’s head had hit the wall. Ray leaned into the touch without thinking. When Ryan pulled back his hand, it was red with blood and he looked at Ray with what looked like worry in his eyes.

“I’m fine, don’t worry, been through worse.” Ray gave a small smile. “Help me up, will you?”

Ryan stood up and hauled Ray to his feet. He only wobbled a bit before willing the dizziness to go away. Ryan walked next to him back to the cell, the pair receiving curious looks all the way.

\-----

After a couple of days of taking it easy, Ray was fit to fight again and was sitting in the common room with Kerry and Caleb. Rumours of his fight and subsequent saving had been circulating the prison, especially since both of the brutes had been found dead in their cells that morning, courtesy of one Geoff Ramsey. No-one messed with a member of the Fake AH Crew and came out of it unscathed. However, since only Ray knew that, the common misconception seemed to be, that it was somehow Ryan who was responsible. Which in turn gave breeding ground for certain other misconceptions.

"I don't get how you did it Ray. Everyone else who tried even talking to the dude died choking in a pool of their own blood, but here you are, fucking banging him and what not." Caleb said throwing his hands in the air.

"I'm not banging him ok, I barely know the guy, he doesn't even talk for christ sake" Ray retorted even though he knew it wasn’t quite the truth.

"Oh right, care to explain why in the hell someone you barely know is going around murdering two people for you?!"

"There is no proof whatsoever that it was Ryan who killed those guys! Douchebags like those must have had plenty of people wanting them dead"

"Sure, and then conveniently killing them two days after they mess with you? Not fucking likely"

"What I don't understand" Kerry began. "Is how you can even stand being with the guy so much. I barely dare breathing near him and you spend time in the same room as him voluntarily.. Seriously Ray, are you ok, i mean he's not scaring you into something you don't want to do? I'm sure we can figure out-"

"NO! For fucks sake, I'm fine, no one's scaring anyone and no one's doing something they don't want to do! Okay? Now can we please for the love of all that is holy change the subject?"

"Okay Ray, I'm just saying that you don't have to stand for him bullying you or-"

"That's it I'm leaving now" Ray said standing and stalking away very determinedly.

"Ray! Ray for hell's sake come back!"

"Nope, fuck you guys."

Ray knew Kerry was just trying to help him, but god if he wasn’t the most annoying person on the planet right now. He'd been having this same discussion at least five times over the last two days, and frankly it was opening up for some thoughts about Ryan, that Ray would rather not be having.

\-----

Ray was lying awake, playing his DS again that night, trying to take his mind off of everything, when the screaming and thrashing started from below him. It seemed to be an extra bad night and Ray was almost considering going down to wake up Ryan when he finally pulled out of the nightmare with a choked sob. Ray could hear Ryan draw in air in big gulps in between heart wrenching cries and he gave a little gib when something was thrown violently across the room.

Ray realised with surprise that it was the skull mask.

A couple of minutes went by and Ray could still hear Ryan sobbing, when he took a decision. He moved slowly, crawling down from his bunk and crouching down in front of Ryan, who was sat curled up in the middle of the bed. Ryan went quiet for a second before looking up at Ray.

Ray was taken aback for a moment. Light brown tufts of hair framed a surprisingly handsome face, currently though streaked with tears. What caught Ray’s attention was the eyes, the same piercing blue eyes that he had gotten so accustomed to over the last couple of weeks, now filled with pain and sorrow. He didn’t even think before reaching out and cupping Ryan’s cheek, wiping tears away with his thumb. Ryan unexpectedly leaning into the touch closing his eyes briefly.

Ray leaned forward, surprising even himself, but no more able to stop himself than he would be able to stop a train. His lips carefully touched Ryan’s. The older froze for a second before surging forward, kissing Ray back like a man who was drowning and had found air.

Ray tangled his fingers in Ryan’s hair as he was laid back on the bed, Ryan leaning over him, lips never leaving his. He bit softly into Ryan’s lower lip eliciting a moan from the older man, hands desperately gripping on to him as if he was afraid he would float away. He could taste the salt from Ryan’s tears as he licked into his mouth, and then suddenly Ryan drew away.

Ray looked up to see Ryan hovering over him, eyes closed. They both breathed heavily.

“I’m sorry” Ryan started, voice cracking slightly. “I shouldn’t have-” Ray cut him off by crashing his mouth into his again. Pulling him down and somehow flipping them so he was straddling him. He leaned his forehead against Ryan’s, sharing his breath. “Don’t be” he whispered and kissed him again.

“Please, I’m not safe Ray, the things I’ve done..” Ryan’s voice was deep and hoarse from disuse. Ray could feel the deep bass vibrate in his chest.

“I’m not afraid of you Ryan” Ray said, almost shocked as he realised the truth behind his words. “I was so afraid of you to start with, but now.. I don’t think I’ve ever felt safer with anyone”

“You shouldn’t”

Ray just kissed him again, kissed his eyelids and his tear striped cheeks and every time Ryan tried to talk, he kissed him softly running his fingers through his hair right until Ray finally fell asleep head on Ryan’s chest listening to the slow beat of his heart, strong arms holding him close.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick note to thank [this post](http://mcnagelpuff.tumblr.com/post/124697344830/me-in-prision) for a surprisingly large part of the inspiration for this fic.
> 
> Also thank you all for liking this, it really means a lot to me.


	3. Chapter 3

Ray woke up alone as the first stripes of sunlight fell through the cell. If he hadn’t been in Ryan’s bed, he would have been inclined to think that it had all been a dream.

The day went by slowly. Ray was tired and had a hard time keeping up with the conversation, thoughts constantly turning back to the madman in his cell. Ultimately, he just found a quiet place in the back of the prison library where he could play his nintendo.

He returned to the cell late that night, unsure of how to approach Ryan, but when he got there, he found that Ryan had already gone to bed, lying with his back to the room.

Ray went to bed, feeling as if something was squeezing on his chest.

Despite being exhausted he couldn’t sleep, sometimes he could hear Ryan turning below him. A guard walked past their cell on his nightly rounds, keys jangling, the door slammed behind him and Ray sat up in the darkness. He climbed down, bare feet landing silently on the cold concrete. He sat down on the bed and Ryan turned around, pushing himself up on an elbow.

“Hey” Ray said quietly.

“Hey”

Ray reached out and grabbed the skull mask, pulling it off, brown eyes only leaving blue for a splitsecond. He put it down next to the bed and bent down, leaning his head against Ryan’s. He kissed him gently and Ryan’s arms encircled him, pulling him down so they lay facing each other.

Ray examined Ryan’s face carefully, determined to committing every detail to memory, from the little scar on his chin to the slight crook of his nose. Soon Ray’s eyes felt heavy, his deficit of sleep finally catching up with him and he fell asleep feeling the warmth of Ryan’s body against him.

\-----

Ryan didn’t quite know what he was doing.

It had been so long since he’d let someone get close to him.

He hurt the people that got close to him, it was better if he kept to himself.

But Ray was so warm in his arms. He could feel him twitching in his sleep sometimes and he was drooling a bit.

Ryan found that he was smiling, something he hadn’t done for a while.

\-----

Ray awoke groggily, confused for a few moments about what had awakened him before realising that it was Ryan trying to untangle himself from him.

“Ssshh, go back to sleep” Ryan said as he noticed Ray blinking sleepily.

Ray pulled him down for a soft kiss, Ryan closing his eyes and sighing heavily. “I should really go, the door locks just opened, people are gonna be walking around soon.” A quick peck later and Ray was left with nothing but cold air as Ryan shuffled around the room grabbing a few things and leaving as usual.

He didn’t quite know how or when, but at some point he had begun trusting Ryan more than he ever had anyone before. He wasn’t even sure what Ryan had done to earn his affection. He just knew that when he looked at Ryan he felt more at home than ever, which sounded incredibly sappy and Ray was frankly embarrassed just thinking it, but nonetheless everything about Ryan just made him go all goopy and he couldn’t quite be arsed to worry about it.

Ray burrowed himself into sheets that still smelled like Ryan and fell asleep

\-----

“Good news Ray, Geoff thinks he’s got things under control so we can get to you tomorrow night already” Gavin was smiling excitedly at Ray. It was he and Jack visiting today.

Ray looked to Jack, who was also grinning at him “Oh! That’s great! About freaking time too guys. I was getting all worried you were just gonna leave me in here” He joked, and smiled back just as brightly.

Gavin started talking about all the problems they had had with this one contact, but abruptly Ray wasn’t listening anymore. He had just remembered Ryan, and that if he got out of here he would be leaving him behind alone for god knows how long.

“Ray is something wrong?” Jack cut off Gavin’s stream of words and looked worriedly at Ray, who had turned very pensive.

“Well.. It’s just.. You guys don’t think it would be possible to get a second person out with me?”

“Oh.. Well, I suppose we could figure something out. It wouldn’t be that much of a change in the plan. Depends on which cell he’s in though, we might have to postpone it a bit”

“Oh you don’t have to worry about that. He’s in the same cell as me”

Gavin cast a surprised look at Ray “Wot? Crazy psycho guy?!”

“Well, yeah, but turns out he’s kinda neat and I think he could be a good active for the crew” Ray shifted on his chair. “Plus you know he was the guy, who helped me, when those boneheads had a go at me”

Jack looked thoughtful for a moment. “I think we can figure something out, I’ll have to have a talk with Geoff though. I’ll send a message when I find out for sure”

“Thanks Jack, it means a lot to me”

\-----

Ryan wasn’t in the cell when Ray came back, so Ray shuffled around fidgety, excited to tell Ryan the news. In the end, he sat down with his DS, still bouncing his leg up and down. Really, he knew Ryan probably wouldn’t be back for a while, but he didn’t want to go look for him so he just settled for waiting.

When Ryan finally stepped into the cell, Ray had already got a note slipped to him by a passing prisoner, which confirmed that plan Break-Out-Ray+Creepy-Cellmate was a go.

Ryan sat down heavily, and Ray immediately leaned across the table “I just had a talk with some guys from my crew and guess what!” Ryan looked slightly amused by Ray’s eagerness and cocked his head.   
“We’re getting out of here! Tomorrow night” He whispered excitedly at Ryan who narrowed his eyes and leant slightly forward.

“They’ve been planning to get me out for a while, and I asked if you could come too. My friend Jack says it’s fine. Tomorrow night Rye, we’ll be free again” Ryan seemed to be slowly taking in the information, a hopeful look crept into his eyes and he grabbed Ray’s arm over the table piercing him with his eyes as if making sure he was telling the truth. Ray almost laughed with giddiness and quickly he saw the emotion mirrored in Ryan’s eyes.

They were both still sitting at the table an hour later when the door locks clicked shut and the light went out, Ray playing his nintendo and Ryan reading.

Ryan put down his book, stood up and slowly walked around the table till he stood in front of Ray. He reached down and pulled Ray to his feet, his right hand holding Ray’s and his left lifting up to brush a hair strand from Ray’s brow. His hair had been getting a bit long since he’d arrived in the prison and had a tendency to fall in his eyes. Ryan walked backwards pulling Ray with him to the bed. They both sat down, Ray straddling Ryan’s legs.

Ray reached up and pulled the mask off Ryan’s head, dropping it to the floor. Lips met tentatively, Ryan’s hands finding Ray’s hips, thumbs drawing gentle circles into his skin.   
Ryan made soft sounds into Ray’s mouth when he tangled his fingers in Ryan’s half-long hair, pulling slightly on the strands. For a while, they just enjoyed holding each other close, exploring each other’s mouths and bodies. Excitement over the news bubbling under their skin. Eventually Ryan lay down, pulling Ray on top of him. Ray fit perfectly under Ryan’s chin and with Ryan’s strong arms encircling him, keeping him safe.

“You’re gonna like the others. They can be a bit loud and obnoxious from time to time, but they’re really good guys. They’re my family. Only one I ever had.” Ray said into Ryan’s chest.

A small moment passed, Ryan stroking slowly up and down Ray’s back. “Maybe I shouldn’t come with Ray”

Ray lifted himself up on his elbows looking down at Ryan, who was in turn looking very determinately at the ceiling. “Why in the fuck not” He said a bit more aggressive than was his intention.

“You don’t.. You don’t know why I’m here Ray. What I did was not good.”

“We’ve all done not good things Rye, for fucks sake, we do not good things for a living. It’s what we do, doesn’t mean we have to be holed up in here for ever”

“You have to understand Ray, I’ve never had problems with killing people or causing mayhem. I like it. I can’t go for long without doing it. There’s a reason I got into this business, but.. I went too far. I hurt people that i cared about and I’m so scared that I’ll do it again” His eyes shifted, and Ray could see the pain buried in them. “I don’t want to hurt you Ray”

“... Then tell me, Rye. Tell me what you did”

Ryan reached up, cupped Ray’s cheek and carded his hand through his hair. After a long moment, he sighed.

“I used to work alone. I did for a long time. Only doing few jobs with other mercenaries when I couldn’t avoid it, but at some point I met a group of criminals. A crew. A family.   
They took me in, needed a merc, and I was tired of not having someone watch my back, so I thought why not. I never thought I’d get attached, but after a few months it started getting hard not to. I got too close. Started caring.”

“What happened?” Ray asked as Ryan came to a stop.

“I.. We were doing a heist, and all of a sudden I got this thought that I was getting too close. I was in danger. I didn’t want to rely on other people. People who would just let me down.   
We were just leaving the bank and there was so much money. I thought how easy it would be, to just take it for myself... Next thing I know I’m standing over a dead body, money all around me, and the others screaming in my head, asking what the hell happened.   
I grabbed the money and ran out. The next two didn’t even have time to react before I’d murdered them too. Shot them in the back before I ran for the last in the group. Her name was Anna. She was just a kid. She’d seen me shoot the others from across the street, didn’t even try to fight, just ran.   
I cornered her in an alley. Couldn’t leave any witnesses I thought. Couldn’t leave someone who knew me. Knew my face.   
She looked so afraid, sometimes when I close my eyes I can see her in that alley..” Ryan’s eyes were glazed over, seeing something that wasn't there anymore, mouth turned down in a painful grimace. “I miscalculated, couldn’t get away in time and got caught, been here ever since”

“The nightmares..” Ray said.

“When I get close to people, I hurt them. I should never have.. I don’t want to hurt you too”

Ray put his hands on either side of Ryan’s head and rested his forehead against his. “You won’t hurt me, I trust you”

“How do you know? I hurt them. They trusted me too”

“Ryan you have to try. We have to do this together. You can’t just stay in here the rest of your life. You have to try. I need you to try” Ray kissed Ryan again, heart hurting for him, trying desperately to convey his feelings.

“But what if I can’t, Ray. What if I can’t control it”

“You can" he said with conviction. "Hey look at me. I’m not leaving here without you”. He caught Ryan’s eyes, and Ryan gave a small nod. Satisfied for now Ray lay down again, head on Ryan’s chest. He tangled their hands and they both just lay there for a while.

They ended up telling stories, heists, assassinations, friends, enemies, entire life stories got unravelled that night, all boundaries lost in the dark. Only as the light started greying did they stop, feeling each other’s warmth for a while until it was time to get up.

\-----

Later on the day, Ray was sitting in one of the common rooms. The others were bickering as usual, and he wasn’t really paying attention, just kinda drowsing in his chair, when he noticed that Chris was sending him some weird looks out of the corner of his eye, immediately looking away when Ray turned his head towards him. Ray furrowed his brow wondering what that was about, but before he could think further of it, he realised that the others’ conversation had landed on Ryan.

“I almost walked into him yesterday, I swear I almost pissed my pants when I turned that corner and saw him coming right for me. He was looking right at me too. I thought he was going to strangle me on the spot” Kerry said.

“Yeah sure, i bet he barely even noticed you” Joel scoffed.

“He did so! It was terrifying. It was like he looked right into my soul”

“Oh yeah, what colour is his eyes then?”

“Black as night.. and dirt.. and eh.. you know.. death” Kerry trailed off.

“Black as dirt?” Adam laughed.

“Shut up, they were just black ok”

“Ryan’s eyes are blue” Ray said before he could stop himself.

“Ok, one, told you he didn’t look at you Kerry, and two, how the hell do you know his fucking eye colour Ray?” Joel turned to Ray, raising a quizzical eyebrow.

“Well maybe his eyes turn black when he’s angry or something, wouldn’t fucking surprise me” Kerry said defensively before Ray could say anything.

“Oh my god, Kerry, this is just like the time Adam tried to convince us that he took out a police squad with a fucking umbrella, it’s fucking bullshit ok”

“Hey, that was real. I got that from a reliable source” Adam said indignantly.

“Actually it was an umbrella and a flamethrower” Ray mumbled, immediately wishing he hadn’t when all five heads turned his way.

“How in the fuck do you know that” Caleb asked.

Ray just shrugged, silently cursing himself.

“I really don’t get you sometimes Ray” Kerry was giving him an incredulous look “You come here looking like such a freaking rookie, and yet you somehow manage to get close to the scariest fucker in the prison without getting your head chopped off. I mean Ryan is like proper terrifying. I bet he cuts up babies for fun in his spare time, or, or, fucks dead bodies or something. He’s just weird man and I don’t … Why are you all looking at me so weird”

Ray looked from Kerry to the guys on the other side of the table, who had all gone positively white as sheets. He looked back, just in time to see Kerry’s eyes go wide as teacups as he looked behind them. Ray followed Kerry’s line of sight, and found himself staring right at the very madman in discussion.

Ryan looked if anything amused, but maybe the only reason he could see that, was because of how good he’d gotten at reading him over the last few weeks. Ray stood up, figuring that it was him, Ryan was there for.   
Ryan gave one last glance over the others, and Ray could swear he heard Kerry make a sound like a broken chew toy, before he followed Ryan to a corner of the room, out of hearing from anyone else.

Ray almost couldn’t keep from laughing when he looked back at the table, all of the guys trying to look at them without making it obvious.

“What’s the matter?” He said smiling up at Ryan.

“I think someone knows that you’re Fake AH Crew” Ryan said so quietly Ray almost couldn’t hear him, all humour gone from his eyes.

“Fuck, well that explains why Chris is looking at me so weird” Ray chewed his bottom lip thinking over this new information “I guess it doesn’t really matter now though, most of the prison will probably have guessed by tomorrow, when you know, we’re not there anymore”

“Just be careful” Ryan said, catching his eyes for a long second before he stalked off to wherever he usually spent his time.

Ray stood in thought for a moment, before he returned to the others, who looked like they were all about to burst with badly hidden curiosity.

“What the fuck was that?” Joel asked.

Ray just shrugged, sitting back down, intending to answer as little questions as he could. If nothing else then for the amusement it would provide seeing the others writhe with curiosity, but also because it might keep the conversation off the topic of the Fake Ah Crew. He didn't want to do anything that might postpone their escape plans.

\-----

By evening, Ray had, if he had to say so himself, expertly dodged all questions from the others and was retiring to his cell. Ryan was already there, lying on his bed. As soon as the light were out, Ray sat down next to him. Ryan wrapped his arms around him, pulling him down on top of him.

Every nerve in Ray’s body was tingling pleasantly. He could feel each of Ryan’s breaths, his heartbeat, large calloused fingers sneaking up under his shirt just to draw pictures into his skin. The sounds from the prison slowly died out as the dark enveloped them, the night was like another world, only containing the two of them. No loneliness or pain, just two bodies and the black silence of night.

The illusion was broken a couple of hours later when an immense explosion shocked the prison. Ray smiled down at Ryan, still wearing his skull mask. They both stood up as they heard yelling and gunfire from the other end of the hall.

Suddenly Gavin practically stumbled up in front of their cell, smiling widely. “Raaay! My favourite lad, good to see you! If you and masky there can just back up a bit, I’ll have you out in a jiffy”

“Be careful you don’t blow yourself up, you moron” Ray laughed. “Where’s Michael, I thought you were banned from explosives since the gas-tank incident?”

“Oy, I’ll have you know I’ve completely restored my explosive privileges, and besides we ran into a spot of bother in the courtyard”

Ray could still hear gunshots from a bit away, and he could swear he heard Michael yelling for a second.

“Watch out now!” Gavin said as a small explosion took off the door to their cell.

"I'm gonna go this way, cause a distraction. You both just head towards the courtyard" Gavin said tossing them both machine guns, before taking off towards the canteen, shooting a guard through the window of the double doors in front of him.

Ray hurried out through the broken door and looked back at Ryan who was still standing in the cell. “Coming?” he asked giving Ryan a careful smile.

Ryan took a deep breath, seemingly taking a decision, and then he stepped out after Ray.

Ray’s smile turned wide as he turned around making his way down the hallway past the many prisoners yelling at them, or cheering them on, or just yelling to take them with them.

Halfway down Ray heard the unmistakable sound of Chris yelling “I fucking told you so Kerry! But nooo, Ray couldn’t be Fake AH, that was just ridiculous!”

Ray chuckled and approached the two men’s cell, looking over his shoulder, making sure that Ryan was keeping an eye out.

“Chris. Kerry.” he nodded at each of them, grinning wide.

“Ray you double-dealing bastard” Kerry said, but with a half smile.

“Look I don’t have time to stand around and chit chat, but here..” Ray pulled a smudged piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it in between the bars. “If you’re interested in some work when you get outta here, just call this number. You can give it around to the others too, but I don’t want the whole prison calling okay” He caught the eye of Kerry, who just laughed and took the paper from him.

“Now, see ya later fuckers, Brownman out” Ray backed away and started running towards Ryan, who was standing a bit further down the hall, shooting anyone who as much as peaked through the door.

Grinning widely they bashed through the door together and into the courtyard, where Michael and Geoff were holding down, Ray could just make out the sounds of a helicopter flying above them over the yelling and gunfire.

They both ran for cover, bullets whizzing left and right.

“Ray you motherfucker, it’s good seeing you in one piece!” Geoff yelled as they crouched down next to him.

“Well, I know you can’t do without me for too long!”

“Jack, you can take the cargobob down now” Geoff said, ducking up to shoot at the guards thronging out into the courtyard.

“Geoff! How are we gonna get to the cargobob without getting our heads blown off?” Ray shouted.

“Don’t worry, Michael’s got that covered!”

As if on cue, a loud explosion shook the ground and the gunfire momentarily ceased in the confusion.

“That’s our signal boys! Roll in!”

They all ran for the cargobob, which was landing in the middle of the courtyard. Ray spotted Michael with Gavin in his heels, coming out from the heavy smoke and flames licking up on the other side of the courtyard.

They all barely made it into the thing before Jack was taking off again.

Ray was hanging out the side of the bob and he cheered and yelled with the others as below him the prison became smaller and smaller.

Ray felt Ryan lean out next to him, shoulders touching and he locked eyes with the masked madman.

Ray could see that he was smiling just as widely as him and Ray wondered how he could have ever thought those eyes cold, the blue glowing in the rising sun, city laid out below them, and Ray for a moment felt a bubbling glee, laughing into the wind and leaning just a bit into the warmth of the other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so that was it (for now). Thank you so so much for reading, commenting and leaving kudos. It means the world to me.
> 
> As you might have noticed, I added this as part of a series. I already have a rough idea of where i want to take this, so I'll start writing on that as soon as possible. But, just this relatively short fic took me around six months to finish up (I know, I'm the slowest writer on the planet), so it might take a while before it gets anywhere near worth reading.
> 
> Again if you have anything you want to talk to me about, you can find my tumblr [here](http://donotfreeedgar.tumblr.com/). I appreciate any kind of communication, be it ideas, questions, encouragement or just general sillyness.


End file.
